Bale on the back-burner

Real Madrid has decided to put the Gareth Bale signing on hold. After receiving yet another "no" from Tottenham Hotspur, Florentino Pérez and his team have decided to call it a day, and now see the signing of Bale this summer as impossible. Daniel Levy, the English club's president, is not open to negotiation, and faced with such inflexibility, reaching any sort of agreement is not viable.

Gareth Bale is not Luka Modric. The Welshman has done nothing to force a negotiation and help get Real's foot in the door. He seems resigned to the idea of playing out another year with Spurs, although his first intention was to tell his president that his wish was to play for Real Madrid.

He is content to stay for another year in England, despite the fact that his club will not be taking part in the Champions League. He says that he's very thankful to Tottenham and that he's happy where he is. Modric, on the other hand, handled his situation quite differently, which ended up working wonders for Real Madrid's efforts to sign him.

Bale has no release clause, will not be making a transfer request, and considers that, being only 23, he has time enough to make the jump into the big time. And when that happens, he wants it to be with 'Los Blancos'.

Word on the English streets is that the flying Welshman won't be going anywhere without a previous payment of £100 million, and that is a tall order even for the likes of the mighty Real Madrid.